The Batman
The Batman is my favourite movie ever made, and honestly, I could talk about it for hours. It takes everything I love about Batman, the detective work, the gothic atmosphere, the psychological depth, the corruption of Gotham, and executes it almost perfectly. This isn’t just another superhero movie. It’s a full-blown noir detective thriller disguised as one.
The detective aspect is easily the strongest Batman investigation ever put to screen. The influence of Batman: The Long Halloween is obvious from the very beginning, and the film wears that inspiration proudly. The serial killer mystery, the political corruption, the mob connections, the rain-soaked Gotham streets. It all feels ripped straight out of the comics in the best possible way. Matt Reeves absolutely understands Batman.
The world-building is phenomenal too. Gotham feels alive in a way most superhero cities don’t. It’s gothic, filthy, neo-classical, flooded with corruption and crime, yet still believable enough to feel real. Despite how grounded the movie is, it never loses the fact that this is a Batman story. Batman walking through a crime scene in full costume somehow feels completely natural here.
The performances are unbelievable across the board.
Robert Pattinson is my favourite Batman ever. He perfectly captures a Bruce Wayne who’s completely consumed by being Batman, to the point where Bruce barely even exists anymore. He feels genuinely disturbed, exhausted, obsessive, and isolated.
Zoë Kravitz is an amazing Catwoman and has fantastic chemistry with Pattinson.
Colin Farrell completely steals the show as Penguin. Genuinely one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen. The fact that I forget it’s even him under the makeup says everything.
Paul Dano is horrifyingly good as the Riddler. He turns the character into something genuinely unsettling without losing the intelligence and theatricality that makes the Riddler iconic.
Jeffrey Wright is basically the perfect Jim Gordon, and John Turturro gives an incredibly underrated performance as Falcone.
Visually, the movie is stunning. The cinematography is gorgeous from start to finish. Reeves constantly uses shots that linger just long enough to reveal something new in the frame, or attaches the camera directly onto moving cars and objects to create this intense, immersive feeling during chase scenes. Every frame feels deliberate.
One of my favourite parts of the film is the parallel between Batman and the Riddler. They’re reflections of each other in a genuinely disturbing way. Both are orphans. Both keep journals. Both stalk targets through binoculars. Both believe they’re pursuing vengeance. The movie constantly hints that Batman could very easily become something just as terrifying as the Riddler if he loses himself completely. I don’t think it’s quite as perfectly executed as the Batman/Joker mirror in The Dark Knight, but it’s still incredibly effective.
The Arkham interrogation scene is one of the greatest Batman scenes ever filmed and honestly on par with the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight. Everything about it is perfect. The slow build-up as the Riddler repeats “Bruce Wayne” while Batman slightly looks away in panic is unbelievably tense because the audience immediately thinks Riddler knows his identity. Then, when Riddler says, “He’s the only one we didn’t get,” Batman slowly realises, along with the audience, that Riddler actually doesn’t know. Pattinson regaining composure and suddenly exploding with anger while Riddler keeps teasing that there’s more to his plan is incredible acting from both of them. And the use of “Ave Maria” throughout the scene somehow makes it even more unsettling.
Also, this movie gave us the iconic “Does he know?” meme, so cinematic history was made.
There are tiny flaws here and there, and maybe the third act isn’t quite as strong as the rest of the film, but I genuinely don’t care. This movie understands Batman better than almost any live-action adaptation ever has.
It’s dark, emotional, stylish, intelligent, terrifying, and somehow still hopeful by the end.
A near-perfect Batman movie.